In 1989, the Georgia Legislature enacted local legislation creating the Chatham Savannah Authority for the Homeless (CSAH) to serve as a coordinating and leadership body for homeless service providers throughout the City of Savannah and broader Chatham County. Over the course of the past 30 years, CSAH has expanded its mission to include: planning activities, service providing, housing development, etc. In 1993, CSAH decided to organize as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.

This memorandum of understanding provides $50,000 to CSAH to launch a new initiative, Streets to Stability. This effort is being sponsored by several relevant stakeholders in our Continuum of Care. Bringing together Chatham County, the Chamber of Commerce, Visit Savannah, the Tourism Leadership Council, the Downtown Business Authority, SEDA, CSAH, and several other stakeholders was no easy feat.

Additionally, the Mayor and Aldermen of the City of Savannah contract with CSAH annually to serve as the lead agency and provide various deliverables to the staff in the Human Services Department.

The Streets to Stability Initiative creates a comprehensive strategy to move unsheltered individuals towards a more stable lifestyle, including permanent housing. The Streets to Stability Initiative creates a framework of a community-based approach to assist our homeless population with the immediate goal of getting people off the streets and out of unsafe conditions. This initiative will be managed and coordinated by the Streets to Stability Manager, a newly created position with CSAH (staff or contract).

The Streets to Stability Manager will be guided by a homelessness Task Force (HTF). The HTF is modeled after the recently formed Chatham County Housing Coalition and seeks to bring together private, public and business leaders together to work collaboratively towards a common purpose. The HTF will include a cross-section of representatives from the Chamber of Commerce, Visit Savannah, Downtown Neighborhood Association (DNA), Tourism Leadership Council (TLC), Downtown Business Association (DBA), United Way, Hospitals, Chatham County and municipalities, and business partners.

The deliverables that will be provided under the Streets to Stability Initiative to the City of Savannah will be:

• Give Change That Matters: Development and implementation of a marketing campaign with input from stakeholders including the Downtown Business Association, Downtown Neighborhood Association, SEDA, Chamber of Commerce/Visit Savannah, Tourism Leadership Council, Chatham County, the City of Savannah, and local law enforcement to reduce direct panhandling.

• Give Help That Matters: Centralized engagement and coordination of community groups, faith-based organizations, etc. to organize well-intentioned services such as feeding the homeless, drives for goods (socks, coats, blankets, etc.). Some are on a regular basis; others are sporadic or one-time only. While help is certainly welcomed, it often is not the right kind of help, in the right place, at the right time.

• Chatham Grounds: A safer alternative to homeless camps

• Provide Point in Time (PIT) Count update when available, typically completed in the first quarter of the year, to the County leadership

• Provide updated maps of the unsheltered homeless campsites to the City based on the PIT Count.

• Diversify funding to increase capacity of CSAH and homeless service providers to enhance the quality of services provided to the homeless population throughout the Chatham Savannah Continuum of Care.

• Organize CSAH as a planning organization that collaborates with relevant stakeholders to lead the effort to eliminate homelessness (i.e. separate the service provider functions).

• Provide outreach to local churches and other interested groups as to the needs of the homeless and educate on the best practice models for distribution for long-term positive impact.

• Develop/implement a tracking and management system that can align contributions of donations with the needs of unsheltered individuals.

Approval